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Brad Delson
Bradford Phillip Delson (born December 1, 1977), professionally known as Brad Delson, is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist and one of the founding members of the Grammy Award winning rock band Linkin Park. Biography Brad grew up in Agoura, California and was friends with Mike Shinoda throughout his childhood. They attended Agoura High School together and graduated in 1996. It was this year when Xero was formed by the two. They remained close friends as they went to separate colleges. Brad attended UCLA, where he met his roommate Dave Farrell, a bassist with a local punk band called Tasty Snax. Brad recruited Farrell to join Hybrid Theory, who had recently changed from Xero. The rest is history. He graduated in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in Communications and was planning to go to law school until Hybrid Theory got a record deal and blew up as the newly named Linkin Park in fall 2000. Brad handles the business side of Linkin Park with his father, Donn Delson. The two created BandMerch amid concerns over the unauthorized usage of Linkin Park's image and name on products, citing they wanted fans to get first-class, high-quality products when they purchased merchandise with the band's name on it. The company soon branched out past the borders of Linkin Park, handling merchandising affairs for some of the music industry's biggest heavy-hitters. Delson is also the A&R representative for Linkin Park's Machine Shop Recordings label, most noticeably as an advisor for Fort Minor's The Rising Tied which was released in fall 2005 on the imprint. Equipment Guitars * Hybrid Soldier Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 - Brad's favorite guitar is his custom-made red PRS with the Hybrid Theory soldier on the body. He also possesses a Custom 24 in gray with a hybrid soldier * Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 - There is also an amber Custom 24 used as his main guitar during the Hybrid Theory touring cycle. A black Custom 24 was also used in the "Numb" music video and used for smashing live after performing "A Place for My Head". A red Custom 24 was his guitar used on "Figure.09" in 2003 and 2004, with the 3 highest strings removed and another low Db string put in the slot where the Bb string normally would be in order to play the tapping part in the intro more easily * Hybrid Soldier Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 - Brad also possesses 22-fret versions of his red and grey hybrid soldier Custom 24s * Paul Reed Smith Standard 24 - Brad occasionally used a platinum metallic finish Standard 24 in 2001 for songs in Eb tuning * Paul Reed Smith CE 24 - Brad used a blue CE 24 pre-Linkin Park * Paul Reed Smith Tim Mahoney signature model SE * Ibanez S2020X Antique Violin finish - Brad used this guitar on performances of "My December" in 2004 * Ibanez RG470XL guitar - Used on "Don't Stay" and "Nobody's Listening" * Ibanez RG7321 - a backup to the silver RG7620, seen at the Roseland Ballroom show in New York in September of 2000 * Ibanez RG7620 7-string guitar - a silver 7-string used on "Runaway" and "With You" up until 2002 * Ibanez Artwood series acoustic guitar - used in the "Papercut" music video * TCM Guitars Taurus Sportster - Brad used this guitar when the band began play "It's Goin' Down live. * Fernandes Dragonfly Elite - Used on "No More Sorrow", this guitar has sustainer pickups so that Brad does not have to use an E-bow live. * Fender Rory Gallagher Tribute Stratocaster * Fender vintage 1950's Stratocaster - Used on "What I've Done", "The Little Things Give You Away" and "Bleed it Out". * Fender Jaguar * Epiphone Worn Wilshire '66 Reissue - Used in the "Iridescent" music video * Vox SDC-55 - used in the "Burn It Down" music video * Paul Reed Smith DC3 - Used on "Runaway" and "With You" in 2012, and like the RGT3120, is tuned BEADGB * Paul Reed Smith NF3 - Also used on "With You" in 2012 * Fender Telecaster * Gibson Les Paul * Ibanez RGT3120 - an orange 6-string tuned BEADGB, used on "Runaway" and "With You" in 2003-2006 Effects To avoid problems with pedals being damaged during live performances Delson keeps his effect pedals in a rack along with his amplifiers and controls them through a pedalboard onstage. The board also contains a pedal control which allows him to change the settings for his effect pedals. * Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro floorboard * GCX Audio Switcher * TC Electronics G-Major effects processor * Boss BF-3 Flanger * Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor * Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer (x2) * Boss CE-5 Chorus Ensemble * Boss Expression pedal * Boss DD-7 Digital Delay * Boss AW-3 Dynamic Wah * Ibanez LF-7 Lo-fi pedal * Dunlop MXR Micro Amp * Dunlop MXR MC-401 Amplifiers For the first two albums, he used Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifiers, but during the recording of Minutes to Midnight Delson decide not to use much of his old equipment to give him a new sound. Several vintage and rare amplifiers such as Soldano SLO's, Marshall JCM 800, Mesa Boogie, a 1972 50 watt Hiwatt Custom, A Bogner Uberschall, and a extremely rare Bo Diddley amplifier with an onboard tape delay that was either made for, or made by Diddley. During live performances Delson relies on several Randall MTS Modules to recreate the sound from these different amplifers. * Randall MTS RM4 pre-amp (x2) * Randall MTS Modules * Randall RT 2/50 power amp * Randall MTS cabinets Other * Dunlop Picks-Tortex Wedge (0.83mm) * D'Addario strings: EXL115,EXL140,EXL110 * DiMarzio pickups - D-Sonic, Tone Zone, and Air Norton * Audio technica wireless transmitters and receivers External Links Wikipedia on Brad Delson Delson, Brad